Browsing by Author "Farina, Zeno"

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    Geothermal energy in Santiago del Estero, Argentina: a flesibility study of power generation from medium enthalpy thermal sources
    (2018) Farina, Zeno; Conde Serra, Alejandro; Kuhn, Dietmar
    "The Organic Rankine Cycle technology is a reliable way to convert heat into electricity, especially when free heat is available in form of renewable energy (biomass, geothermal, solar) or as exhaust heat from industries. In the present study the attention has been paid on the application of an ORC unit for the production of electric energy in Termas de Río Hondo, north-west Argentina, making use of an existing medium-temperature geothermal source. Earlier explorations of this area have assured a hot source of about 80-90°C at 900 m of depth, thanks to a fractured saturated sedimentary basin of more than 6000 m of depth. Commercial and economic evaluations have been carried out to analyse the ORC units that are available in the market that can work with such low temperature. Three companies have been selected as potential providers of a unit to be installed in Termas de Río Hondo. The potential energy production from these units is calculated and various economic scenarios are evaluated to function as a reference to potential strategic decisions. The units’ gross power output ranges from 30 to 300 kWe, with a required hot water flow rate between 10 and 57 l/s, and a cold water flow rate between 15 and 155 l/s. The economic analysis is based on the calculation of their payback period, sale price of produced energy and Internal Rate of Return. In general, it is found that larger units are more profitable, in the face of their higher initial cost."